Buying & Using a Pressure Washer

This is a discussion on Buying & Using a Pressure Washer within Modifications & Accessories, part of the Under the Hood category; How is Black & Decker PW1700SPX pressure washer? Can it suck water out of a bucket? I did not find ...

I live in apartment and i would require minimum of 80 feet length of water hose to connect a running water supply and bring it to car park. Also getting a power socket for a AC power driven portable pressure washer is challenging as i cannot use power from the common space for my own personal needs.

hence I am exploring if i could buy a portable 12V water pressure car washer and found a product

You can buy a 30M extension cable and pull from a bucket. I am not sure if you can get sufficient pressure from a 12v source. I got one from MX for about 2500rs. There are ones that run on kerosene or diesel but could be pricey.

I bought their 8 litre manual pump last Diwali with the intention to do away with the car washing guy and wash the car in less water and time than it takes with a bucket. Here is a general experience with the product.

It is an excellent concept. Even the manual washer is pretty easy to use. The tank accepts around 8 litres of water and needs a good pumping in the beginning. Pumping isn't hard, but if you want to build up pressure quickly you must pump fast.

The pump has two attachments - a brush which will let water out in a focussed mist from both sides of it and is extremely efficient in cleaning up dirt from the car. Then there is a nozzle that will spray any variety of a fine mist to a concentrated jet and has enough power to wash off grime from the bathroom tiles.

The operation is pretty easy, other than the need to pump a few times in between to maintain or increase pressure, the cleaning is easy. The brush can access crevices and gaps easily and makes light work of cleaning the grill or slats. Since the brush also releases water from both its sides, the cleaning is very effective.

The pump is easy to carry and has provision to attach a shoulder strap which unfortunately is not supplied. There is a microfibre cloth provided which, although a little small in size for a car, is quite good in quality.

Now the biggest problem. Almost all the connectors are screwed into each other - including the tank lid, the inner shaft that sucks in air with each pumping operation, the release valvel housing, the water pipe housing that connects to the tank, the handle that connects to the water pipe, the various parts of the handle and the nozzle. The only part that is NOT screwed on is the metal pipe which has to be inserted into the end of the handle on one side and into the nozzle/brush attachment on the other. This, incidentally, is also the only metalic part.

Because this piece of pipe is not screwed on, and you have to press it into the accessory as well as the handle of the water spray, you will most likely end up like me. I managed to shove it a little harder into the brush attachment on my second attempt to wash the car, and after washing, the pipe just didn't come out of the brush. The pipe is extremely smooth with no grip at all, and since it was just shoved inside, it is virtually impossible to pull it out if stuck.

I tried various tricks, including heating up the brush attachment with a candle (this was suggested by the company technician) in the hope of expanding the plastic casing and thereby allowing the pipe to be pulled out. Nothing worked.

One fine day I took my dremel and cut the protruding pipe in half, leaving one half still stuck inside the brush, and using the other half I managed to put the nozzle onto the pump. The nozzle was good enough for various uses, and I left it on all the time.

Then I decided to use the brush again to wash the car, and this time the nozzle came off the pipe, but the pipe wouldn't come out of the handle! So now I have a completely useless brush with half the metal pipe sticking out of it, and a handle that can only be used with the nozzle attachment!

In my opinion, for a prolonged use, this is going to be the biggest problem you will face (I do not know how their electric pumps fare).

Now some funny side: Just for the heck of it, I decided to actually measure the amount of water one could save by using the pump. I decided to use it for bath (to be honest, I have used it to wash myself more than I have used it on my cars!). Ordinarily I consume a whole bucket (20 litres) and then some (total around 25 litres easily). With the Resqtech pump, I filled it completely with hot water and used the nozzle to spray water. I finished with about half the tank still full - including shave and shampoo.

A simple of way of washing maybe not the entire car but at-least under the bonnet is to use the below water spraying device. It throws a multi-stream of water without excessive force and is convenient to clean the engine bay. One has to pump the device and it flows water for at-least half a min once fully pumped.

I have used it a couple of occasions to keep the bonnet area clean so that rats do not make it their regular visiting space. The cost of the device which looks like a Holi water cannon is mere 50 bucks bought from vendor at a traffic signal. It could be used to wash the entire car as well but is not very convenient to hold the bottle and one has to keep pumping once the stream weakens.

All and all a effective tool for cleaning the engine bay which is probably primarily meant for watering plants etc :-)

You can buy a 30M extension cable and pull from a bucket. I am not sure if you can get sufficient pressure from a 12v source. I got one from MX for about 2500rs. There are ones that run on kerosene or diesel but could be pricey.

Yeah,I agree with your thoughts. that's the question even i had, will the power from 12V be suficient? will the pressure generated be enough to clean the dust? will the car battery drain pre maturely? May be a i should explore electric based pumps

[quote=sumeethaldankar;3910778]A simple of way of washing maybe not the entire car but at-least under the bonnet is to use the below water spraying device. It throws a multi-stream of water without excessive force and is convenient to clean the engine bay.

Thanks for sharing your experience, I am primarily looking for a pressure pump with optimal pressure which is enough to remove the dust and stains(not so high or so low) and hence looking for a pressure pump.

Guys, You know what i did finally, I bought 100 feet length of hose(5/8") and connected it to regular tap on one end with a normal tap adaptor and an ordinary plastic water gun on other end. But the pressure from the tap was heavy that it is either the tap adaptor or the hose or the gun got dismantled. then i tightened the adaptors with steel clamps so that they do not fall. Finally i was successful in making the hose connected to tap and to my surprise the pressure from the gun was rally sufficient(at no point it can be compared to pressure washers, but it is an economical solution where we have power challenges) for me to clean the moderate dust on my car.

Planning to buy quality -plug and play- tap, Hose adaptors and a brass tipped water gun so that it is easy to use and more efficient in performance.